THE HORRIFYING AND LETHAL EXPERIMENTS OF UNIT 731, THE LABORATORY OF DEATH

THE HORRIFYING AND LETHAL EXPERIMENTS OF UNIT 731, THE LABORATORY OF DEATH

 

In World War Two, Japan created a top secret project named Unit 731 which sought to learn more about human physiology. Officially called the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army, Unit 731's methods were completely unethical - and that's putting it lightly. Brutal human experimentations were conducted in Unit 731 that resemble things straight out of a horror movie. It shocks the mind to think that these experiments really happened, but indeed they did.

Japan committed war crimes throughout WWII that are cruel and horrifying. They used grisly torture methods on countless victims that ranged from bamboo torture to cannibalism. However, the worst methods occurred in Unit 731. Located in Manchuria, most of the test subjects for Unit 731 were Chinese.

By the end of the war, as surrender became imminent, the Japanese involved with Unit 731 attempted to destroy all evidence of the unspeakable crimes they committed. Unlike their Nazi counterparts, the mad scientists running Unit 731 were never punished for their morbid human experimentation. It would be many years before witnesses started speaking out about the unit, and only now does the public understand what really went on there. 

People Were Vivisected Alive

Human test subjects in Unit 731 were strapped down to operating tables and then dissected while still living without any anesthetic. Organs were removed and reattached in strange ways. Like a scene out of The Human Centipede, the stomach would be removed and the esophagus would be attached directly to the lower intestines. Pieces of lungs and other tissue would be cut out while the doctors observed the subject who was usually screaming in agony. This continued until the subject died, at which point a new one would be rolled in for examination. 

Victims Were Infected With The Bubonic Plague

Anthrax, cholera, and other pathogens were "studied" by forcibly infecting victims while scientists watched. One of the main diseases they experimented with was the bubonic plague. The Japanese were trying to find a way to weaponize the sickness by using infected fleas and various delivery systems. The plague bombs they developed were used to infect Chinese cities, with varying degrees of effectiveness. 

Unnessesary Amputations Were Performed

Doctors in Unit 731 hacked the limbs off their human test subjects just to see what would happen. They would watch people bleed out to calculate how long it took. All of these amputations were performed without anesthesia, so the victim felt everything and was fully aware during the operations. Sometimes, severed limbs were even reattached to other parts of the person's body. 

Victims Were Put Into High Pressure Chambers

As a diver goes deeper into the ocean, they have to regulate the increased pressure on their bodies. Now think about that pressure increasing until the point where the person's eyes pop out of their sockets. That is what these doctors actually did to people at Unit 731. They locked human test subjects into high pressure chambers and watched as unbearable pressure literally crushed people. 

Some Subjects Were Injected With Seawater

Apparently, this experiment was an attempt to see if seawater could be used as a substitute for saline solution. These seawater injections proved fatal. But the scientists didn't stop there - they decided to try injections of animal fluids like urine and blood. They also injected people with air to calculate how long it took for them to develop embolisms. Some of these injections seemed to have no real scientific purpose whatsoever, like injecting horse urine into a person's kidneys. 

The Frostbite Experiments Actually Yielded Results

Doctors today know that the best way to treat frostbite is not by rubbing it, but by immersing it in water just over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but never over 122 degrees. How do they know this?

Well, it turns out that it's because Japanese doctors at Unit 731 were intentionally giving people frostbite and then testing various treatments for it. People would be left out in the cold, or dunked in cold water so that their limbs would freeze and develop frostbite. They were then subjected to all types of "treatment," some of which proved fatal. Other victims had their frozen limbs thawed so that the scientists could observe the impact of gangrenous rot on the body.

Women Were Forcefully Impregnated

Several experiments at Unit 731 sought to see how diseases were passed on from mother to child during pregnancy. So they infected women with a diseases and then forcefully impregnated them. In addition to the experiments, women at the facility were regular victims of sexual abuse by the guards and staff. 

They Used Human Babies As Test Subjects Before Killing Them

The raped, purposefully impregnated women eventually gave birth, giving the "researchers" a whole new batch of subjects to experiment on. The newborns were subjected to the same heinous experiments as their parents, or sometimes summarily killed right after birth. In any case, none of the test subjects at Unit 731 survived.

Weapons Were Tested On Live Human Subjects

Many biological weapons were tested at Unit 731, like the plague bombs which were filled with rice, grain, and infected fleas. Not only were subjects forcibly infected with diseases, but they were also tied to stakes and then roasted alive to find the best range for flamethrowers. They were bombarded with grenades and explosives at varying angles and distances to see the impact. In addition, Japanese soldiers would practice using bayonets on live human bodies. To test the sharpness of their swords,  they would decapitate victims. 

Human Test Subjects Were Forced To Copulate With Each Other To Study STDs

One of the diseases being studied at Unit 731 was syphilis. Syphilis was a large problem in the Japanese army, which systematically raped women and used sex slaves. This experiment was designed to alleviate the problem of this common sexually transmitted disease. After prisoners were infected with the syphilis, they were forcefully made to copulate with other prisoners in order to study how the disease spread. Victims were then vivisected alive at different stages as the disease progressed. 

People Were Hung Upside Down Until They Choked

Scientists conducted this test to see how long a person could stand on their head before they died. They just strung people upside-down and timed how long it took to for them to choke to death. 

People Were Exposed To Lethal Doses Of X-Ray Radiation

Scientists tested various levels of x-ray radiation on human subjects. They ruthlessly exposed people to high doses of radiation to observe what happens to the body. Spoiler alert: it kills you. 

Centrifuges Spun Test Subjects Around Until They Died

This experiment was to determine the amount of force a human being could undergo before dying. Think of the thing at space camp that spins people around in order to subject them to high G-force. Well, they decided to do this faster and faster until the test subject died. One hopes that the victims passed out before undergoing too much pain.

One Experiment Starved People To Death

This experimentation of starvation sought to determine with scientific precision how long a human could survive in various conditions without food and/or water. While not as imaginative as the other choices on Unit 731's roulette wheel of horrible deaths, it is still a terribly brutal way to go.

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